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I don't know how true it is, but the point was made (by Millar I think) that the majority of the field don't ride P-R.
Like throwing a rally stage into a GP, I suppose.
Scilly.Suffolk-
Yeah but I think of a Grand Tour as a sort of Olympics of cycling: it tests every skill and there are opportunities for every sort of rider. From time trialists to climbers to one-day specialists. And the stages should reflect that. There are crashes on every type of stage and arguably the mass crashes at the end of sprint stages are much more destructive. The stage itself was 100k shorter, featured less than half the amount of pave and didn't go through the most difficult sections. The difficulty cane more from the conditions: few crashes across the pave but most occuring at the turns, either into the section or during it, due to the looseness of the soil.
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Plus they all know it is coming, have the chance recon the route, and use riders that are likely to make the tour squad ride the actual race, like Nibali did.
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Given how well so many of them did today, maybe they should ride it.
The skills a GC rider needs are often well suited to the classics. I appreciate it’s a different era, but it was normal for the top riders to ride all the major races 20 years ago.
Jimmy_Fingers
andyp
Well I just did, the numbers anyway. Just pointing out it's nowhere near as hard as the classic itself.